ODU Senior Emergency Exercise Manager… at West Midlands… · Birmingham

Closing date: 6th September 2026, 23:59pm

Salary: £57,186 - £60,912

Grade: 9

Contract type: Fixed Term Contract until 31st March 2029

The Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) network stretches across the UK. We work alongside our partners to help protect the public and our national security by preventing, deterring and investigating terrorist activity.

The Operational Development Unit (ODU) is a dedicated team who are responsible for the strategic management of Learning, Training and Exercising (LTE) within the CT Network. The unit forms a key part of the Prepare strand of the Home Office CONTEST Strategy. Working alongside our partners, the ODU harnesses the value of shared LTE to ensure the CT Network is ready, prepared and interoperable to respond to current and emerging terrorism and counter state threats.

We are looking for a motivated, dynamic and suitably qualified colleague to support the Senior National Organisational Learning & Exercising Manager in leading the new multi-agency CTX (CT Exercising) Hub.

You will be based at our modern offices near to Birmingham International Airport, however there will be an expectation of national travel on a regular basis to perform this role. This will include having to work extended hours at locations throughout the UK as well as international travel as and when required.

You will predominantly work Monday – Friday 0800-1600 however, an element of flexibility is necessary to meet business needs any you may have to work extended hours outside of the normal core hours.

We are happy to consider a more agile approach to your working location and as this is a national role, we will be happy to consider the successful candidate working from an area outside of the West Midlands.

The role

You will be a subject matter expert for the police service, leading the new multi-agency CTX Hub by managing the designing, developing and coordinating of a national programme of CT test and exercise activity.

You will ensure emergency services and partner organisations are effectively trained, tested, and prepared to respond to major Counter-Terrorism incidents, aligning with national resilience standards and operational best practice.

You will provide subject matter expert advice to senior leadership on emergency preparedness, exercising, and interoperability in response to Counter Terrorism and emerging Counter State Threats. You will also represent senior CTP leadership at Home Officer governance boards and other high-level forums as required.

Responsibilities Leadership

• Establish and lead a multi-agency hub embedded within CTP Operational Development Unit, driving national resilience and preparedness across the United Kingdom’s CT and CST landscape.
• Champion inclusivity and devolved engagement, ensuring the requirements and perspectives of the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish governments are consistently understood, considered, and reflected in national planning.
• Develop and implement a long-term National Exercise Strategy, aligned with organisational priorities and the UK’s broader national resilience framework.
• Lead continuous improvement efforts by systematically embedding lessons learned into policy, planning, and operational practice.
• Ensure test and exercise requirements to support development of emerging Counter State Threat workstreams are identified, assessed, and addressed to mitigate risks to the United Kingdom.
• Serve as the principal liaison between CTP and the HM Government Cabinet Office on the exercising of government department responsibilities and capabilities.

Exercise Design & Delivery

• Lead on the design, co-ordination and tasking of the national CTX programme across CT regions, capabilities and partner agencies.
• Ensure the CTX program is informed by customer need, driven by national threat and risk analysis and better utilises organisational learning.
• Lead on the design and delivery of National and Network wide high threat, high complexity test and exercise activity delivered across multiple stakeholder agencies.

Multi-Agency Coordination

• Develop and maintain effective relationships with all stakeholders to ensure that the CTX program effectively contributes to achieving Contest objectives.
• Coordinate and chair senior stakeholder meetings to ensure effective coordination of CTX activity across all agencies and partners.
• Ensure compliance with interoperability frameworks and best practice.

Evaluation & Assurance

• Lead on change programmes to develop better utilisation of learning management systems across partners, ensuring learning capture is agile, scalable that drives continuous improvement.
• To understand and improve system resilience and effectiveness, identifying gaps in capacity and capability through learning.
• Ensure that learning management systems and processes are user friendly whilst maintaining necessary integrity and auditability.

Governance & Compliance

• Direct and coordinate national CTX activity to ensure that all legal, regulatory, and health and safety requirements are met.
• Lead on behalf of CTP, alignment of CTX activity with national frameworks and resilience standards.
• Manage budgets, resources, and procurement related to delivery of the national CTX programme.

Team Leadership

• Lead and develop the team members within the multi-agency CTX Hub, ensuring HR, performance and welfare requirements are always met.
• Provide mentoring and professional development to build organisational capability.
• Manage external suppliers and specialist contractors where required.

Skills and competencies Essential

• Evidence extensive vocational experience relating to emergency management, resilience or a related field.
• Proven management experience of a minimum of two years leading a multi-agency workforce whilst exercising strong leadership, motivating and developing staff.
• Proven track record of designing and delivering large scale change projects and managing implementation through internal and external teams.
• In depth knowledge of multi-agency response frameworks and structures, including initial emergency responders, local resilience forums and wider government agencies.
• Have experience of analysis of data sets and information to formulate objectives, inform and design workstreams and develop reporting mechanisms to inform strategic governance boards.
• Knowledge and experience of how emergency systems and command structures work across multiple agencies.
• Able to work without direct supervision and make complex decisions without the need to escalate.
• Have a strong desire to contribute to the direction of Counter Terrorism Policing and the achievement of cross cutting key stakeholder objectives.
• Experience in leading compliance audits across a network to ensure agreed standards meet the business needs ensuring the CTP exercise strategy and process remains effective.
• Proven ability to manage multiple workloads, with tight deadlines, and prioritise work based on strategic drivers.
• Proven ability to communicate with and influence senior staff and stakeholders to build operational relationships across professional boundaries.

Desirable

• Evidence of working within the CST space.
• Cognisant of Organisational Learning capabilities of CT Networks strategic partners within the CST Mission 2 space
• Ability to manage multi-agency groups to achieve collaborative working between ODU on behalf of CTP and strategic partners to promote and adopt an effective and coordinated exercise strategy.
• Experience of matrix-management

Security Clearance

This post requires British nationality (some dual nationalities may be ineligible) and a Developed Vetting clearance.

You will need to undergo additional security clearance checks, with the offer of employment being conditional on obtaining all of the necessary security clearances.

There are limitations on travelling to a small number of countries once in post.

Diversity & Inclusion

We maximise the potential of people from all backgrounds through a culture of fairness and inclusion to deliver the best service for our communities, whilst protecting them from harm.

Counter Terrorism Policing is always working to build upon our diverse workforce to reflect the country we serve. An inclusive culture enables us to do things differently, working in ways that meet individuals’ needs, flexing working patterns to ensure work-life balance is healthy so that we deliver the best for the organisation.

We are a Disability Confident Leader - the highest level an organisation can achieve under the scheme run by the Department of Work and Pensions. As part of our commitment we operate a Disability Confident Interview Scheme - all candidates who declare a disability and meet the essential criteria for the role will be offered an interview.

It is important to note that there may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all disabled people who meet the essential criteria for the job. For example, in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people. In these circumstances, the employer could select the candidates who best meet the essential criteria for the job, as they would do for non-disabled applicants.

Advertisement Closing Date

We reserve the right to close this advertisement early if the maximum volume of applications has been reached. Candidates with unsubmitted applications will not be informed prior to the advert closing.

Please do not attach a CV/covering letter as these will not be used during the application process.

About the Company

Counter Terrorism Policing is a collaboration of UK police forces working with the UK intelligence community to help protect the public and our national security by preventing, deterring and investigating terrorist activity.

Join Counter Terrorism Policing West Midlands CTU for a unique opportunity to play your part in keeping the West Midlands region safe. Every day offers a variety of exciting challenges and exceptional opportunities played out on a national and international stage.

Most of what we achieve may never see the light of day but be assured that we have the very best and brightest working around the clock in an effort to keep us all safe. These ordinary men and women do extraordinary things in an effort to thwart terrorist planning; to safeguard those who are at risk of radicalisation; to protect our critical national infrastructure, institutions and crowded places, and to pursue and bring terrorists to justice.

Our Counter Terrorism Unit aims to create an inclusive and welcoming environment where all our people feel a strong sense of belonging and are able to reach their full potential. With a range of roles available, you don’t need a background in security and we are always looking for different skills and experiences to join our talented team.

Work with us and you will be joining a world-class Counter Terrorism Policing network.